This week’s feature of My Favorite Home Styles Series is an American favorite, the Farmhouse. Like the craftsman, the farmhouse style has tons of story and character built into it. More basic than Victorian homes, but with a lot of the same structure, the farmhouse style is one with which I have recently become smitten. What sets these homes apart from the rest as you’re driving down the street? Here are a few tell-tale features that make a farmhouse stand out (even when there’s not a farm attached to it).

Features of the American Farmhouse

Front Porch

One of the best parts (in my opinion) of the farmhouse style home is the front porch. Stick a porch swing or a few rocking chairs out front and you automatically have a place where time slows down and you enjoy the sweet things in life, like some sweet tea. Farmhouse porches will usually span the entire front of the house or even wrap around the sides. They are meant to be another living space where you can sit and cool off from the hot inside- so they are covered, sometimes by another common feature of farmhouses, the metal roof.

Metal Roof

One of the cheaper choices in roof materials, the metal roof is a low-maintenance and durable option for roofs that are very common in the farmhouse style. My favorite part of the metal roof? The sound they make during a rain storm. I think I would install one just for that!

Board and Batten Siding

Such a nice break from the traditional vinyl siding we so often see, board and batten offers so much character and clean lines to the front of the home. Farmhouses often continue this texture on interior walls too, in additional to shiplap.

White Exterior and Black or Gray Roof

Who doesn’t love black and white? Seriously. You can’t get more classic or less fussy that a simple white house with black roof. It lays such a great foundation for what’s to come inside- classic details. clean and practical design, and for the color-lover, a clean slate to add punches of color here and there.

A peek inside…

This series is mainly to discuss spotting different types of homes from the street and know the different characteristics or each type of home. But farmhouse style so beautifully carries itself inside the house as well. So what might you see inside?

Informal, relaxed living spaces, exposed beams, wide-plank flooring, shaker-style kitchen cabinets (usually white), farmhouse sinks (obviously), metal lighting, and a warm and practical family-style feel. I know this isn’t everyone’s style, but at this point in my life, where all I want to do is be with my family and bake cookies, this type of house feels right up my alley. What are your favorite features in farmhouse-style homes?